Théâtre Robert-Houdin

The Théâtre Robert-Houdin occupies a narrow space on the boulevard des Italiens, marked by a kinetic, clockwork facade featuring a mechanical automaton that greeted passersby. Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, a watchmaker turned magician, opened this stage in eighteen forty-five to showcase his clockwork illusions. Decades later, Georges Méliès bought the theater, filling the basement with his film laboratory. Méliès performed shows there until his financial ruin in the nineteen twenties, when the theater was demolished to widen the street.